Definition of Project Management 2.0

Today I would like to give a definition to the new term used by me in the title of this blog.

I use the term Project management 2.0 to describe an evolution of project management practices inspired by Enterprise 2.0 tools. Traditional project management software implies project manager acting as a proxy in all project related communications, thus reducing productivity of project manager and the rest of the project team. New tools bring collaboration into the planning process, making the team much more productive and changing not only the technology, but process as well.

Collective intelligence is not the only change agent in this process. Collaboration opens way to another successful practice, inherited from Enterprise 2.0 – emerging structures. Together these powerful principles determine key differences between Project Management 2.0 and traditional project management:

Bottom-up planning is utilized much more often and much more efficiently

Tools help to communicate and reduce unnecessary burden

Instead of using one work-breakdown structure that is designed before the project is started, multiple structures might be applied and they can evolve on the way.

Overall use of these techniques help to increase productivity in many teams, especially in the cases, when either project plans need to change often, or team members are not located in one office building, or project manager is involved in several project teams simultaneously.

There are applications that bring Project management 2.0 practices to enterprises. Some of these project management tools, besides collaboration, may offer functions like reports, Gantt charts and overdue notifications. These features follow the progress of projects and increase project work productivity.